The name compounds xuan玄 "black, dark; mysterious, profound, abstruse, arcane," occurs in the first chapter of the Lao-tzu. Xue學 "study, learn, learning," literally the "learning" or "study" of the "arcane," "mysterious," or "profound." In Modern Standard Chinese usage, xuanxue can mean "neo-Daoism," "Buddhism," "metaphysics," "spiritualism," or "mysticism".
Two influential Xuanxue scholars were Wang Bi and Guo Xiang, editors and leading commentators on the Daodejing and Zhuangzi, respectively. For instance, the Daodejing exists in two received versions named after the commentaries. While the "Heshang Gong version" explains textual references to Daoist meditation, the "Wang Bi version" does not. Richard Wilhelm said the Wang Bi commentary changed the Daodejing "from a compendiary of magical meditation to a collection of free philosophical aperçus."[2]